Justice League #1

Story by

Geoff Johns

 

Art by

Jim Lee, Scott Williams

 

Colors by

Alex Sinclair

 

Letters by

Patrick Brosseau

 

Cover by

Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair

 

Publisher

 DC Comics

This is the first review of hopefully a long line of  enjoyable comic reviews.  First and foremost I do not want to review a comic from a hate standpoint, I would rather look at the book from the perspective of "who would enjoy reading the book".  The purpose of this standpoint is that I find it far to easy to just degrade a book into the ground, then I would become the reviewer that I hate, one who only has taste in their mouth.

Second these reviews may contain SPOILERS, you have been warned.

So on with it already.  I have always been mainly a Marvel guy, worshiping Spider-man and the X-Men throughout my childhood and only really paying attention to DC with a few comics so when they stated they were rebooting the entire line I figured what the hell, I will check it out.

The Plot

Justice League #1 the Launch title of the New 52 begins approximately 5 years before the current new DC Universe begins with Batman being hounded by the Gotham Police Department while chasing after some kind of alien monster that is also a transformer.  Green Lantern shows up and "helps out" the caped crusader.  The two decide to form an alliance, I use that word lightly, and head off to Metropolis in search of Superman since he is an alien and obviously knows where this one came from, Seibertron obviously.  One right hook later and Batman is facing down big blue himself (not IBM).

What Was Right

Jim Lee with Scott Williams, I don't need to go much further than that.  The art was amazing and was tastie to my eyes.  I have been a long time fan of this team stemming back to the early X-Men and Punisher:War Journal days.

Geoff John's story was okay at best but not terrible for a generic superhero story.  I do not like his depiction of Green Lantern as a shoot first and ask questions later type, I feel it was done better by Denny O'Neil in the classic Green Lantern, Green Arrow series.  All said and done though I am intrigued about the Transformer Monster and I am wondering if Darkseid and Unicron teamed up to take out the Earth.  

What Was Wrong

Green Lantern is basically an overconfident show boat space cop that likes to run into situations half cocked, cops that run in half cocked die.  Being a Green Lantern means the ring chose him because he would make a suitable cop in the Galactic Patrol while trying to save the universe from the Boskone threat, wait that's not quite right.  you get the idea though.  I would have had him go off into the building with a green energy field around him or have Supes punch through a wall and get him, that would have all been better than wait here you crazy guy in a bat suit while the real super powered guy checks this out.  I know why they did it, and I am kind of looking forward to the square off between Superman and Batman next issue, but I wish it was handled differently.

End of Line

My closing thoughts on the book are this; it was typical superhero stuff, no new ground here just same old heroes in a slightly different light for some of them.  Was the book bad, not especially but it wasn't great either.  Fans of Jim and Scott should definitely grab it as well as anyone who is interested in the New 52 since it is the launch book.  If you want a better Justice League Year One story, the cartoon is where to look.

Now the most important question, will I buy the next issue?  Yes, I will be adding this to my pull list for as long as the art team is on the book.